


The Killjoy from Yesterday

by Dontpanicinthefallout



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Killjoys, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, F/M, Multiverse, Rescue, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dontpanicinthefallout/pseuds/Dontpanicinthefallout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alkaline Army was tortured for days by BLI, for what? Information about the Killjoys. She gave all her strength to protect the ones she cared for more than herself. After the Killjoys break her out in a rescue mission, Alkaline finds herself trapped between two worlds; The one where she lives an adrenaline filled life with the Fabulous Killjoys, and one where she has a simple life in Battery City. There is only one constant in both lives; the red-haired Killjoy known as Party Poison and a mysterious Battery City resident named Jack.<br/>(Yea. Not the best description, but you get the main idea)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bulletproof, but not Invincible

Its been four days since Alkaline Army was taken by BL/Ind. In those four days, she was tortured for information nearly every hour of each day, only stopping in the early hours of the morning to report their progress and to allow her to heal and recover just enough for them to do the same the next day without killing her. They used almost everything; electrocution, beating, even drugging her, but she said nothing.

Korse stared at the broken Killjoy standing in front of him. "You can't win Miss Barnes." He said "Eventually we will break you and you'll tell us everything you know." She looked up at the head Exterminator.

"Cassadee Barnes is dead." She snarled. ''You and your gray world killed her. I'm just the shell she left behind."

He didn't pity her, or felt anything at all towards her as a matter of fact. Her official biography in the Records stated that she was a medical student after the Helium Wars ended, but committed suicide 8 months ago. But in reality, her and several young students in her same field faked their own deaths to run away from Battery City to join the notorious Party Poison and his Killjoy army. He was in the process of finding the remaining students, but caught her in a shootout in Zone 4. They hoped to extract information from her by the end of the day, force the pills into her system, and send her back into the city under a new name and personality. But instead of just telling the Exterminator what he wanted, the Killjoy put up an unbreakable wall of silence and the same response to her name, "Cassadee Barnes is dead." Korse knew that she'd give them the information, they just needed the right amount of pain and time.

"Well I believe you will enjoy today's little experiment." He motioned for the two Draculoids at the door to step in. They obeyed their superior officer's command and stepped into the brightly lit room, followed by a man in a white lab coat. The Draculoids grabbed Alkaline by the arms and held her to the ground. The man pushed away the bright blue-green hair that covered her neck to reveal a red patch of skin from multiple previous injections in the same place, and pulled a large syringe filled with a bright green liquid out of his pocket. She knew what was in the needle. It was a drug designed from BL/Ind used in interrogation to overstimulate nerves and increase the pain experienced by whoever takes the drug. She felt the icy cold of alcohol on her neck as the man cleaned the area, after all, they are doing this all humanely, aren't they? Isn't this all for the greater good of the whole, not just the individual? The next thing she felt was an excruciating pain in her neck, which usually meant that the drug was taking its almost instant effect. "Thank you doctor," Korse thanked the man, who nodded at him and left. "Take her to medical room 48 and strap her down how I instructed you two earlier, leave her wrists and forearms visible. I will go fetch our 'little friend'."

The two Draculoids nodded in understanding and yanked Alkaline off the cold linoleum floor as hard as they could. Pain shot up her stiff arms and traveled all the way down to her feet. she struggled to keep up with her captors as they dragged her down the blinding white hallway. Once they reached medical room 48, she was strapped to the steel examining chair in the middle of the room which resembled the chairs dentists used when Alkaline was a little girl. Before everything went to hell. This chair had arms though, with leather straps on each side. She was forced into the chair and strapped in at the palms, chest, upper arms, ankles, and head. her forearms were facing outwards, exposing her wrists. Soon after, Korse walked in the room, someone else following closely on his heels. The stranger was dressed in standard issue Better Living Draculoid uniform that went with his ice blonde hair, steel grey eyes, razor sharp cheekbones, and sly grin on his face.

"Hello Cassadee." He said. Alkaline thought she could hear faint bits of an Irish accent in his voice. "I wish to play a little game with you." She watched him move to her side, then she noticed what was on the table next to her. Knives. Surgical stainless steel knives. He picked up one of the knives, a scalpel, and traced the blade around her right arm. "I am going to ask you a series of questions. For every question you answer, I will leave you alone. For every one you give a sarcastic remark to, I will give you two cuts, one on each arm. For every question you do not answer, I will give you one cut. Do you understand?"

Alkaline gave him a thumbs up. "Crystal clear." She said.

"Good." The boy responded. "Question one; Do you know where you are?"

"Battery City." Alkaline stated. "If you are wanting me to be more specific, the main California headquarters for Better Living Industries. If I may ask, who the hell are you?'

He laughed, lifting the blade from her forearm. "I go by several names, but you killjoys may know me best as Ripper." Alkaline's light brown eyes widened. Jet Star had told her about Ripper from his time in the BL/Ind work camps after he helped Fun Ghoul escape. He told her that Ripper used the same drug they just used on her and then cuts his victims until they can no longer stand it. Many of them never make it out of the room. Luckily, Party Poison and Kobra Kid broke him out before Ripper could get his hands on him. "Question Two; Do you know the whereabouts of Party Poison and the so-called 'Fabulous Killjoys'?"

Alkaline went stony silent. The Killjoys were her family, she wasn't going to give them up for anything else in the world. When she ran away from the city, the Killjoys took her in and gave her a new name and a new life. A life filled with adventure and adrenaline rushes every day, replacing the boring, redundant life in Battery City that she hated.

"Are you going to answer me, Miss Barnes?" Ripper began tracing the blade on her right forearm. She said nothing. Ripper applied enough pressure to break skin. Her arm suddenly felt like it was on fire, her wrist throbbed with pain as blood welled to her skin. She stifled a scream. She handled injuries worse than a cut before, but the drugs made it one hundred times worse. It felt like the knife cut halfway through her arm, all the way to the bone. "I will ask you again, Where. Is. Party. Poison?" He repeated calmly.

Alkaline's breathing became heavy and shallow. "Go. To. Hell." She growled.

Ripper pouted, " I'm sorry. But this is what you get for rebelling." He took the blade and slid it across her forearm. She screamed in pain, her face started to burn along with the searing pain on her arm. "You think he's coming for you, don't you?" he asked, walking over to her left arm. Her shallow breathing masked her words. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" He asked, sliding the knife across her left arm, blood welling at the surface. Alkaline let out another scream. Then she glared at him with a fire of pure hate in her eyes. "Killjoys never die." She snarled.

Ripper smirked, twirling the knife inbetween his fingers. He held it like a pen and glided it repeatedly down her arm. The pain eventually became unbearable. Tears started streaming down her face and her voice became hoarse from screaming. Most of her forearm was stained with blood. Ripper was walking over to her right to do the same thing to her other arm, when she heard the door open. A guy with dirty blonde hair, black rimmed glasses, and a white lab coat came in. Her vision was obscured, so she couldn't see his face really well. "What do you want?" Ripper snapped.

Alkaline saw the stranger pull out a bright red ray gun from his lab coat. "Get the fuck away from my girlfriend." She heard a familiar voice demand. Alkaline realized who it was. Kobra Kid. A spark of hope flikcered in her chest. The Killjoys came back for her.

Ripper dropped the scapel and backed away. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Killjoy." He said, pulling a small chain with a bright red button. "I press this, Korse comes running. Then bye-bye for both of you."

Kobra glared at him, his gun still raised. He pulled the trigger and shot the chain out of Ripper's hand. "You let her go," He motioned his gun to Alkaline, "Or I'll go for your heart next time." Ripper walked slowly over to the barely concious Killjoy and began undoing the restraints. Kobra called for the remaining Killjoys. Soon after, Alkaline saw Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, and Jet Star walked through the doorway. Ghoul and Poison pulled off their masks, completely unprepared to see the Alkaline Army that laid in front of them.

All Poison could say was "Holy shit." Alkaline looked like another person from the one he knew. Her bright blue hair was cut just above her shoulders, her face was hallow and bony except for around her eyes which were red and bloodshot, she was pale as a sheet, but her arms scared him. They were covered with fine red lines, blood dripping onto the shiny white floor. "Jet, help me with her." He said to Jet Star. Each of them took an arm and helped her to the floor. Poison heard her whimper in pain as he moved her bloodied arm over his shoulder. The two of them helped her over to the door. "Kid," Jet Star called over to the blonde, "You know what to do." Kobra Kid nodded and flipped his ray gun to where he was holding it by the barrel and pistol whipped the BL/Ind goon, who colllapsed to the floor.

"Let's get out of here." He said, sliding the gun back into his lab coat. "Get her to the Trans Am. I'll meet you guys back at the diner."

"Where are you going?" Ghoul asked.

"There's something I have to get." He said. "And they're going to notice that she's gone at any moment. They're going to go through security and see that I was the last one there. They're going to want answers." They saw him hurry down the hallway and through one of the multiple identical doors on the hallway.

The hallway was eerily empty. Fun Ghoul took Poison's place helping Alkaline, which was a bit awkward considering that he only came up to her shoulders that made the three of them do this strange limp/walk down the hall. They an into a small group of Dracs at the exit where the spray painted Trans Am was parked, but Poison took care of them easily. Poison took the driver seat, Jet pulled out his ray gun and took the seat next to him. Ghoul and Alkaline took the back. Ghoul pulled out a medic kit from underneath the seat and took out a roll of gauze. He unrolled it and began wrapping Alkaline's arm in the fabric, staining it red for several layers.

"You came back." She said weakly.

Ghoul finished tying off the bandage. "Of couse we went back for you." He said. "You're one of us. Who was that guy Kid knocked out?"

"His name's Ripper." Jet told him. "He's one of Korse's best interrigators. I was to be sent to him for as he said, 'Questioning' the day you guys broke me out. From what I've heard about him, not many people survive his interrigations. I'm surprised that she didn't give him any information, any normal person would have cracked just after being drugged. You didn't tell him anything, did you?"

Alkaline said something, but it was too quiet for Poison or Jet to hear. Fun Ghoul did hear though. "She said that she told him to go to hell and that Killjoys never die. That's how she got her left arm so messed up."

Poison smirked, "That's my girl." We're almost out of the city, keep an eye out for Kid, he should be close behind. His voice sounded distant, like he was speaking from the other end of a tunnel. Alkaline's vision began to blur, her head felt fuzzy and full of cotton. She heard Ghoul calling out to her, using her real name. "Cassadee. Cassadee. Cass! Cass! You need to try and sta-." She passed out before he could even finish his sentence.


	2. The Veil Between Dreaming and Reality

Cassadee woke up, terrified and breathing heavily. She was back in her bedroom, in her and her boyfriend's apartment. "It's just a dream," she said, "It's just a dream. I'm not one of them." Staring in the mirror, she saw regular old Cassadee Barnes; Dark brown hair that brushed just above her shoulders, matching brown eyes, pale skin, and freckles splashed across her nose and cheeks. Remembering what happened in her dream, Cassadee yanked the sleeves up on her grey nightshirt. No scars. Suddenly, a faint groan came from the other side of the bed. Her boyfriend, Mikey, reached out for his glasses and propped himself up on the bed.

"Cass, it's 3 in the morning. Are you okay? Did something happen?," He asked groggily.

"N-no." She stammered, "It was just a nighmare. We were Killjoys or something and they were torturing me, but I can't rememer why. But then you and some other guys came in and helped me break out. Then I woke up." She explained, pulling her sleeve back down. "Just go back to sleep, I'm okay. I promise."

The two laid in bed for the next half hour, silent. Cassadee tried to drift back to sleep since both of them had to go to work the next morning. The familiar hum of cars outside and the early morning/late night sounds of Battery City lulled her into the reassurance that it was all a dream, that she was home with the one she loved. She heard Mikey humming softly, an old song from the days before BL/Ind took over. "We're going down down in an earlier round, and sugar we're goin' down swinging" The song played out in her head as she let a dreamless sleep overtake her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, their alarm went off at its usual time, 6:00am. Cass went and made coffee while Mikey went and got ready for work. "You sure you're okay?" He asked, grabbing one of the multiple identical grey mugs out of the overhead cabinet, "You looked pretty freaked out last night."

Cassadee laughed, "I'm fine Mikey, really. You don't need to keep worrying." She was dressed in her ususal work clothes, grey pants, a plain white blouse, and a plain lab coat with her ID card clipped onto the breastpocket. Her hair was tied up in her usual ponytail out of her face. She checked her wrist one more time out of pure instinct, remembering images of the guy who tortured her in the dream. The faint scar of a tattoo she had that was removed a few months ago traced her wrist, but no cuts.

Mikey looked in the kitchen clock and realized they were going to be late if the two of them were going to be late if they didn't leave now. He grabbed his BL/Ind badge off the counter and the two headed out of the apartment. Cass did a last miute look and saw both their pills on the counter. "I'll be fine." She thought. "It's just one day." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The walk to work felt different than any other morning. Both Cassadee and Mikey were more on edge than normal. It wasn't just that they were on edge, they felt alive, as if they were had adrenaline injected into their systems. Cassadee saw people staring straight ahead with blank expressions, sometimes she caught glances of people staring at her and Mikey. She looked over herself to make sure the tattoo on her shoulderblade wasn't showing, but then she realized that they were staring at the bold black X on his sleeve. She remembered that he was one of Better Living's top exterminators and everyone knew it because of that X on every shirt he owns. But he didn't act like the rest of the high security clearance, douchebag, trigger happy gunslingers though. He became an exterminator after his older brother was taken by the Killjoys. Cassadee worked in the weapons division, working on new weapons for both the Exterminators and the Dracs. 

Thoughts of that dream came back to her again. It all felt so real. She subconciously checked her arm again. Still no scars. But then a thought crossed her mind that put up a few red flags, "How did I even recognize Mikey in the first place?" That guy looked barely anything like him. Killjoy Mikey had bleached blonde hair, his skin was tanned from living in the Zones, wore a pair of worn leather gloves, and there was something about him felt different. He wasn't the Mikey who she knew, but the Mikey she remembered. Before the bombs, the fires, the wars, Better Living, even the pills. The other three Killjoys also seemed familiar to her. The short one had multiple tattoos and a purple halloween mask looked scarily similar to Frank Iero, who was also an Exterminator. The other one that had the afro and mirrored glasses, she almost thought for certain was Ray Toro, one of the office workers in robotics that she ran into now and then. But the red haired one set up several red flags in her head. He was Party Poison, the deadliest Killjoy in the Zones. Mikey had dealt with him once several months ago and he ended up with one totaled bike, a fractured wrist and broken leg. He's been on office work ever since. But now that his leg is fully healed, it's only a matter of days, two weeks at max, until he's at least back on surveillance and she guessed about a month until he can go back out into the Zones. 

Cassadee snapped out of her mind as she collided straight into someone. Papers flew everywhere. "Oh my God." She said, scrambling to pick up the scattered papers. "I'm so sorry. I was't watching where I was going. I'm-"

"It's fine." The guy said, straightening his glasses and helping Cassadee pick up the remaining papers. "You're Cassadee Barnes! I've seen your work and am a huge fan. I'm Jack, Jack Carraway." He said, exending his hand. 

"My work?" She shook his hand. "I'm just a weapons tech."

"I mean your music." He said, "Before all this." He gestured toward the enormous black and white BL/Ind logo painted on the side of the building. "I used to go to a lot of your shows."

Cassadee was a bit confused at first, but then understood what he was talking about. She used to be a singer before the Helium Wars, playing shows at as many local festivals and live music nights as she could. She still had her guitar hidden in the back of her closet. Not even Mikey knew about it. "Uh, thanks. I've got to go. Maybe we can talk later. Lunch?"

"Yes, that's great." Jack said, flustered. Suddenly, his face suddenly became blank, staring off into space.

"Hey," Cassadee said, waving her hand in front of his face. "Are you okay?"

Jack looked directly at her. His expression became very seroius. "Alkaline." He said, but it wasn't his voice, it sounded like the Party Poison that was in her dream. Cassadee jumped back in alarm. "You have to wake up. Please. It's unreal to see you like this. It isn't you. Please wake up. We all need you back. Kobra needs you back. I need you back." Jack's face went back to its flustered expression. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit starstruck. I'll see you later." He dashed off into the sea of workers.

"Who was that?" Mikey asked.

"I have no idea." Cassadee responded. 'That was really weird.' She thought. 'This whole day has been weird. It's probably nothing.' She shook off her thoughts and headed through the doors into another boring day at work.


	3. New faces and Shocking Surprises

Work wasn't as boring as usual for Cassadee today. Her team had took up the shooting range to test a new ray gun they've been developing. The subjects that were doing the actual shooting were mostly Dracs, but a few Exterminators had volunteered since they'd be the ones actually using the guns once they get into production. Cassadee got to the range early to avoid being assigned to a trigger-happy, overconfident, 'I can kick your ass, nerd' Drac. Luckily, Frank Iero was one of the Exterminators that had volunteered, so Cassadee was assigned to him. 

"Holy shit. That is badass!" He remarked as she handed him the new weapon. Frank picked it up and began holding it at different angles. "So what's different about this one? It looks the exact same as what we already have."   
.  
"Well, its got a tracking device planted in it, in case it gets stolen by a Killjoy. And there's a stun feature too. All you have to do is flip this switch right here." She flipped a small switch behind the barrel of the gun. "Give it a go." Cassadee flipped her safety glasses down and took a few steps back. Frank took aim at one of the dummies and fired. Three direct hits to the dummy in on the other sie of the range. He turned back to her and gave a thumbs up. Cass walked over to him, "What do you think?" She asked. 

"Well it didn't blow up. That's a plus." He joked. 

Cassadee punched him in the arm. "Ha ha ha. Very funny Iero. Seriously, what do you think?" 

"Not bad," He said. "Does Mikey know that you're working on this?''

"Actually, he doesn't." Cassadee responded. "Don't tell him though. I want to tell him once he gets cleared to go back out. If you tell him, I'll find you." 

Frank laughed and raised his hands in surrender, "I promise not to tell your boyfriend of his new toy." 

Cassadee smiled and flipped down her glasses. "Good. Now let's get down to business." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After several hours of tests and collecting data, Cass and Frank went on break. The duo headed over to the cafeteria which was a few floors up from the shooting range they were using. "So how is everything between you and Mikey?" He asked.

"Everything's fine," She answered warily, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well he's been through a lot lately," Frank explained. "His brother disappearing, the fight with Party Poison, being stuck here with office work. He's kind of a different guy now."

Cassadee thought of his words carefully. She had noticed that Mikey had been keeping to himself a lot more than usual lately, but she thought nothing of it at first. Her mind began wondering back to her dream. How different he was as a Killjoy. Suddenly, she realized that the short killjoy WAS Frank. They had the same tattoos in the same places, they sounded exactly the same, the only thing that was different about Killjoy Frank was his hair. Her Frank had short hair that he always kept the same length. The other Frank had long jet-black hair that almost went down to his chin. But that still didn't explain why he, Mikey, Ray, or Party Poison were in her dream in the first place. 

"Hey, Earth to Cassadee." Frank waved a gloved hand in front of her face. 

"Right here Frank." She laughed.

"You spaced out on me for a sec." He said. "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours."

Just as Cassadee thought of telling him because she trusted him with her life and vice versa, the pair ran into some Dracs. One of them that had their collar popped up ran directly into Cassadee. "Watch it nerd." He sneered. Cassadee and Frank tried their best to keep walking and ignore them, but the same Drac that ran into her grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her up against the wall next to one of the EXTERMINATE posters with Party Poison's face plastered on it. "Hey, you're supposed to apalogize nerd."

"Why don't you guys go piss off?" Frank snapped, trying to pull the Drac away from Cassadee but was blocked by two other Dracs. Cassadee tried to push the Drac off her, but he was too strong.

"Watch it, Iero." Cassadee's captor mocked. He glanced at her badge. "You're one of the nerds working on the new ray guns. I will cut you a deal; if you tell me what you're working on, I will pretend that this little 'confrontation' never happened. If not, you two better watch your backs, if you know what I mean. Deal?"

"That is classified information." Frank snapped. "You losers wouldn't understand what she's talking about anyways."

Cassadee's mind was spinning at a hundred miles and hour thinking about what she should do. The consequences either way could be catastrophic. If she gave away classified information, losing her job would be the least of her worries. If she didn't tell him, they'd report both her and Frank for still having tattoos, which could cost both of them their jobs, maybe even Mikey's.

Suddenly a familiar, yet irritated voice called out from farther down the hall. "Hey! What's going on here?" Cassadee turned to see Mikey running down the hall.

"This nerd here was giving us lip so we decided to teach her a little lesson." One of the Dracs lied, keeping his cocky attitude.

"First of all, that 'nerd' is my girlfriend. Secondly, she's one of the quiestest people I've ever met, so her giving you lip is one of the biggest pieces of bullshit I've ever heard. Third, you really thought you'd pull this off right in front of an Exterminator?" Mikey said bitterly. "Get out of here and leave her alone, or next time you will regret it." He pulled a white ray gun out from behind him.

The Draculiods backed off warily. "You better watch yourself Way." One of them yelled before heading back down the hallway. Mikey rolled his eyes. "You okay?" He asked Cassadee.

"Yea," She answered him. "They were just some cocky idiots who wanted some classified info. Frank and I are on break, care to join us?"

"Sure. Besides, I've got some news for you." Mikey smirked, breaking his pokerface.

Cassadee knew it was definitely good news since the pokerface was broken. "You're cleared?" She guessed. Mikey nodded, twirling his gun in a gloved hand. "That's great news!" She remarked, "When do you go back?" The three began making their way to the cafeteria.

"Tomorrow actually." He replied, putting the ray gun away. "I was doing some computer work when Korse walked in and said that I was cleared to go. I may need to stay late tonight though because my bike is finally done." 

Cassadee shrugged. "That's fine with me."

The trio slid through the glass double doors that led to the small cafeteria. Cassadee spotted the guy she ran into this morning, Jack, sitting at an empty table with papers spread out all over it. She stopped by one of the vending machines with a large BLI smile logo printed on it and grabbed a cup of coffee. She hated the coffee here, but it was what got he through the day. "Hey." She piped up, taking the seat across from Jack. He looked up from the mass of papers in his hand.

"Oh, hi." He said timidly. "I thought you weren't going to come." He glanced at Mikey and Frank. "Why were you with those Exterminators?" 

"Well the one with the glasses is my boyfriend and I'm currently working with the short one." Cassadee explained. "What'cha reading?"

Jack did a quick 360 of the room to make sure nobody was paying attention to them. "I'm working on this device, top secret stuff, I can't tell you much more." He flashed his badge. Under his picture had the basic info; Carraway, Jack. Security Clearance Level 5. Weapons.

"I didn't know you worked in Weapons." Cassadee remarked, taking a sip of the bitter liquid and grimacing at the taste. "Ugh, hate this stuff. It's not even good coffee."

"I work in development. I'm basically one of the people that sit aroundf and find new ways to kill people. It sucks. Sometimes I can't even sleep because I know this isn't me, what about you?" Jack looked at her badge. Under her picture was the same info; Barnes, Cassadee. Security Clearance Level 5. Weapons. "You're one of the designers, aren't you?". He guessed.

"Yeah," She took another sip of coffee. "You going to tell me what you're working on or what?"

"I can't tell you here." Jack's voice suddenly became very serious. "Meet me here tonight and I'll explain everything." He handed her a piece of paper with an address scrawled on it.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Cassadee asked skeptically, taking the paper.

"You came back to see me, didn't you?" Was the only response she got before Jack got up and walked away.

\------------------------------------------

That night, Cassadee headed back to the apartment alone after work. She kept the paper Jack gave her close. The address was relatively close to her apartment, so she was going to head back, change out of anything that could connect her to BLI, and head over to the address. The apartment was the same way they left it every day. White. There were a few photos hanging on the walls, but very little color. In the bedroom closet, Cassadee pulled out an old box with a Union Jack painted on the sides and a logo painted on the top. It was a battery halfway filled and half a heart covering the other half. Mikey's brother painted it for her a few months before he disappeared. Inside was some clothes, a ray gun, and a few pictures of her, Mikey, his brother, and a few other people she knew. She pulled out a brown leather jacket, a grey beanie, the ray gun, and a pair of black skinny jeans. She also grabbed a pair of black combat boots. Looking in the mirror, she almost mistook herself for a killjoy, but with a little less color.

Suddenly, she heard a crash in the living room. Cassadee pulled her gun and held it the way Mikey taught her and headed carefully toward the door.

"Hello?", a voice called out.

She dared not to make a sound.

"I know you're here." The voice called out. "I can see your shadow, I won't hurt you."

Cassadee took a deep breath. This was fight or flight. Holding the gun tightly, but keeping her finger off the trigger, she spepped into the doorway to see who or what the voice belonged to. She immediately knew who the stranger in her apartment was. The bright red hair and blue leather jacket gave it away. Party Poison was standing in the middle of her apartment.

"What are you doing here?' She kept a level head and a calm voice.

"I had to find you." Poison responded.

"Why? She asked, "How do you even know me?"

Poison pulled his mask off. "Look at me Cassadee."

She raised her gun. "How do you know my name?"

"Because you know me." Poison remained calm.

"How?"

"Just look at me and remember." He repeated.

Cassadee scanned his face. He did seem familiar, but then it hit her.

"Gerard?!" She gasped.

"Hello Cassadee," Gerard smiled. "There is something I need to talk to you about."

"What?'' Cassadee asked, loweing her gun.

"I need you to tell me what you know about Jack Carraway." He asked.


	4. The Truth Comes Out

"Jack?" Cassadee sounded confused. "I just met him today, what do you want to know?"

Gerard took a seat on the couch, Cassadee remained standing. "I have inside info that says he is working  on a extremely top secret project that can travel through other dimensions, really freaky stuff. You're still working in weapons design, right?" 

She nodded. "I'm in design and production, Jack's the brains who comes up with the weapons. There is something I need to ask you." 

"Then fire away." He seemed so relaxed even though he was one call away from being taken in by BLI.

"Why?" The word fell out of her mouth. 

Gerard looked confused. "Why what?" 

"Why did you attack Mikey? He's your brother, he may be an Exterminator, but he's still your little brother?" Cassadee clarified. 

"That's why I'm here. Mikey wasn't attacked by me, it was someone else using my symbol and name. I believe Carraway and his group are behind it." Just as he finished, they heard the *click* of the doorknob. Mikey Way appeared in the doorway. His hazel eyes grew wide in shock and he drew his ray gun and Gerard did the same. 

"Get away from her." He snapped, a fire of malice lit in his eyes.

Cassadee stood in front of Gerard defensively, "Mikey, calm down. He just wants to talk to me. There is something you should know about him." 

"Cass, get out of the way." Mikey demanded. "He's a wanted fugitive and a murderer. You remember what he did to me." 

"Mikes, I-" Gerard spoke up.

"Shut up." Mikey glared at him. "Get away from her now and I may not shoot you." 

"God dammit Mikey you are really dense sometimes." Cassadee snapped, "Just take a look at him, listen to him. Maybe you'd learn something."

Neither Gerard or Mikey heard her speak up like that before, she rarely ever got that angry but when she did, you don't mess with her. Mikey put his gun back in the holster on his belt and slowly walked over. "Now, Party, could you please explain to Mikey what we were talking about before this little argument happened." Cassadee spoke calmly. 

"I have reasons to believe that Cass's new friend, Jack, may have a new weapon that can travel through other dimensions." Gerard explained.

"Well why are you telling us instead of your Killjoy buddies?" Mikey asked.

"Two reasons. Here's one." Gerard tossed a vanilla colored file on the table It was labeled " **Project Two-Zero-One-Nine-X, Classified"**  in big black letters.

Mikey picked up the folder and scanned through the papers inside. "Where did you get these?"

"I know people" Gerard grabbed one of these sheets out of the folder. "I was reading through the file and something caught my eye." He pointed to a list of names titled " **Test Subjects"**  Underneath was a small descripition- "Each subject has had their medication switched out for medication designed to allow the subject to be 'jumped' to an alternate universe at any time of rest". One name stood out on the list that caught their attention "Barnes, Cassadee Noel"

"What?!" Mikey gasped, "This has to be a misprint. They never cleared this. No way."

"It's not a misprint, I checked myself." Gerard confirmed. "Check who is the head scientist." He pointed to the bottom of the paper. Jack Carraway.

Cassadee couldn't believe it. It explained everything, the dream, hearing party's voice, everything. Suddenly, her head started to throb. Everything became blurry. 

"Cass! Cass! Are you okay?" Mikey sounded scared. 

"Mikey" She whispered before everything went black. 


	5. Things Start to get Weird

Alkaline Army slowly regained concoiusness. She was back in the diner. Everything hurt. Looking down at her arms, she saw that they were wrapped in white gauze patched with crimson red stains. Her black and purple leather jacket was poking out of a white Better Living duffel bag. Kobra must have grabbed her stuff when they busted her out. Suddenly, she heard footsteps from behind. She turned around to find Jet Star standing behind her. 

"You're up." He seemed surprised.

Alkaline smirked, "Yep. How long was I out?"

"A few days." He replied. "Kobra was worried sick. He barely left your side the whole time. It's good to see you're awake. You were unconcious before we even got into the tunnels."

"Speaking of Kobra, where is he?" Alkaline asked, looking around. 

"He's asleep." Jet motioned over to the booths, she could see Kobra's bright red jacket in one of them and his "GOOD LUCK" helmet at the foot of the booth. "This was all my fault. I was with you in that shootout and should have went after you."

"Jet, it's over. I'm back, I'm not ghosted. That's a successful rescue misssion for me." She reassured him. "Where's everyone else?" 

"Party, Pony, and Ghoul are on a supply run and Grace is with Doctor D. They should be back soon." He explained. Suddenly, the killjoys heard the roar of the Trans Am motor from outside. Kobra Kid shot up out of the booth.

"What the?! I'm up! What's going on?! Is someone dead?" He looked over at Jet and Alkaline. "Y-you're awake." He gasped.

"Yea. I woke up a few minutes ago just in case you were going to ask." She replied grabbing her mask and pulling on her jacket. "Party's back, let's see what's up." The three killjoys walked out the entrance of the run doen diner to find the brightly spray-pained car parked in front of the broken gas pump. Party Poison leapt out of the driver side. 

"Poison, what's going on?'' Jet called out.

"Shootout on Route Guano. Pretty bad." Poison briefly andswered as Show Pony and Fun Ghoul climbed out of the other side of the car, carrying a body between them. He was dressed in Battery City styled clothes covered in blood. His brown-black was pasted to his face and his face was ghostly pale. Alkaline was about to ask who it was, but then she recognized him. 

It was Jack Carraway. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter is so short, I meant it to be a filler for now, but I'll start updating this more often now since its getting more reads :)


	6. The Answers Will Only Lead to more Questions

Pony and Ghoul carried Jack into the Diner and laid him on one of the tables. He was covered in blood, but Alkaline couldn't find a bullet wound anywhere.

 

"What the hell?" She was really confused. She had so many questions for him, but what if she thought she was crazy or something? Jack made a low groan. He tried to sit up, but dropped back to the table with a thud. 

 

"Wh-where am I? Who are you people?" He was definitely scared. 

 

"My name is Alkaline, you're in Zone 6. You got pretty banged up out there." She tried to keep her calm. Even though she no longer used much of her medical skills, if something severe happened, she was the one to go to. "What happened?" She turned around to Fun Ghoul.

 

"We ran into an Drac pack out by the border of Zone 2 and 3 out by the Station. Things got really nasty and he was caught in the crossfire." Fun Ghoul explained. 

 

"And you three boneheads thought it would be a great idea to bring him here?!" Alkaline snapped.

 

"No," Party interjeted, "This is why we brought him here." He held out a pair of folders. One was labeled "Project Two-Zero-One-Nine-X" and the other was labeled "Alkaline Army". "Read through that," He added, "You may find a few answers in there." 

 

"I've seen this before." Alkaline snatched the folder from Party's hands. "Jet, Ghoul, watch him." She pointed at Jack, "I need to speak with you two." She pointed at Kobra and Poison and then pointed outside. The three killjoys headed outside and back over to the Trans Am. Alkaline flipped open the file marked "Project Two-Zero-One-Nine-X".

 

"I've seen this file before." She told them, leafing through the papers for one in particular. She yanked out a blue paper labeled "Test Subjects" and scanned the list for one name in particular, her name; Cassadee Noel Barnes.

 

"Alkaline, what the hell is going on?" Poison asked. 

 

"I've seen this before and him too." She repeated, pointing inside. She told the brothers everything, the confrontation with Jack, that Kobra and Ghoul were Exterminators, that she was a weapons designer, the confrontation between Kobra and Poison, and everything the other Party Poison told her about "Project Two-Zero-One-Nine-x." 

 

"So you were in some weird-ass parallel universe where you met that guy and he was doing some highly dangerous experiment on you and you didn't know about it?" Poison repeated.

 

"Bingo." She said. "And apparently they're running that same experiment here. There has to be some connection between the two. The only other thing that remained the same was you." She pointed at Party Poison.

 

Suddenly, gunshots rang out from inside the diner. Kobra and Poison whipped out their ray guns. "We'll finish this later." Poison looked back at Alkaline. "Where's your gun?"

 

"Shit. It's inside." She muttered. 

 

"Just be careful." Kobra said. "Let's go."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The inside of the Diner was completely deserted. Jack was missing from the table and Fun Ghoul and Jet Star were nowhere to be found. Alkaline ran over to the BL/Ind duffel bag and pulled out a bright purple ray gun and slid it into the holster belted on her acid splattered jeans. "Jet?" She called out. "Ghoul? Pony? Where are you guys?" No response. Party Poison echoed what Alkaline said. This time there was a response. A faint groan came from behind them. Alkaline spun around to find a barely conscious Show Pony slumped on the ground. "Pony!" She gasped, kneeling over to his side.

 

"Alkaline." He muttered. He looked like he had just went to Hell and back again. His pale and bony face was covered in blood and there was a nasty gash on his forehead. "St-stay away from him."

 

"Stay away from who?" She started to get worried. "Where are Fun Ghoul and Jet Star?" 

 

"H-him." He pointed behind her and Party Poison. The three killjoys spun around to find Jack Carraway in the doorway.

 

"Well well Miss Barnes." He smiled at her like a psychopath. "You fell right into my trap."

 

Alkaline Army whipped out gun. "What do you want Carraway?" She snarled.

 

"You." He laughed insanely, twirling a white BL/Ind ray gun in his right hand. 

 

"Where are Jet Star and Fun Ghoul?" Kobra Kid growled.

 

"Don't worry Micheal Way. You'll find out soon enough." He pointed the gun at Kobra and pulled the trigger. There was a blinding flash of light, then The Kobra Kid was gone.

 

"MIKEY!!!" Alkaline and Poison screamed. Poison trained his gun right at Carraway's head. 

 

"Where the fuck is my brother?" He snarled. 

 

"He's fine. But you'll find out for yourself soon enough." Carraway pointed the gun at Party Poison and fired. There was another flash of light and then Party Poison was gone.

 

"No!" She screamed. "Wh-where are they?" She started to shake.

 

"They're fine." He stared at her with a wild look in his eyes. "Now we are finally alone." He slid the gun back into the holster. "You're a tough one to keep tabs on Miss Barnes. Especially since your little runaway from my friend."

 

"Who's your f-" She stopped herself. She realized who he was talking about. "Ripper."

 

"Look who's the smart one." He pulled the ray gun back out. "Too bad you're only a pawn." He aimed the gun at her and fired. There was a bright white light, and then everything went dark.

 


	7. Counterparts

"Cass!" Mikey reached out and caught her before she hit the floor. She was completely unconcious. "What did you do to her?" He looked back at Party Poison. Poison raised his hands up in defense. 

"I didn't do anything." He replied, raising his hands in defense. Mikey took her pulse. She was still alive, just asleep. He picker her up bridal style and carried her into the adjacent bedroom. In the room, he found her badge and lab coat lying on the floor next to a very colorful looking box in the closet. He looked inside the box. There wasn't anything suspicious, just a bunch of old photographs of him and Cassadee. He smiled, they both looked so happy. He picked up a really old one of Cassadee on stage with her guitar. He remembered that night vividly; it was the night he finally got the guts to ask her out. 

"You still don't know me, do you?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. He spun around to find Party Poison in the doorway. 

"What are you still doing here?" Mikey asked.

Poison pointed at Cassadee's sleeping form. "They did something to her, I need to find out what."

"You do know that you're only one call away from being taken away forever." Mikey warned him.

"Yes, but I know you won't make the call." Poison grinned. "I remember this box." He traced the fine brush strokes on the lid.

Mikey began to grow suspicious, "Who are you?" 

Party looked at his badge, "Level 5 clearance and you still haven't gotten to the Killjoy files." He commented. "Geez, one change in hair color and you can't even recognize your own brother."

That word rang in Mikey's ears. Poison smirked back at him. "Gee?" He couldn't believe it, his own brother was a wanted criminal. 

"Hey Mikes." Gerard smirked mischievously. The smirk was quickly wiped off his face as Mikey's fist collided with his face. "Ow!" Gerard yelled, rubbing his now bruised cheek, "What the fuck was that for?" 

"Four fucking months you asshole!" Mikey snapped, "I thought you were dead! Then you came back and attacked me! I got stuck with damn office work for two months because of you!" His face turned as red as Poison's hair.

"Hey, you could have come with me." Poison defended himself.

"You never even tol-" Mikey was interrupted by a high-pitched scream from behind him. The brothers looked back to find Cassadee awake and breathing heavily. "Cass!" They both said at the same time.

"Holy smokes." She muttered.

"Weird dream?" Poison suggested. 

Cassadee nodded, "Same one as last night." 

"What do you mean the same?" Poison sounded interested. Cassadee explained to him as much as she could remember, of the escape from Battery City, to Ripper, to the Diner, to the project, to even Jack. "Do you remember the names of any of the Killjoys you saw?" He asked. 

She nodded. "There was you, three guys named Jet Star, Fun Ghoul, and Show Pony. Mikey was there too, his name was Kobra Kid I think, and my name was Alkaline Army." 

"I know Show Pony quite well actually." He explained, "As of whoever this 'Jet Star' and 'Fun Ghoul' is, I have no clue." 

Suddenly, the trio heard a loud crash from outside and there was a blinding white light. Cassadee's eyes widened and she leapt out of bed. "We have to get down there." 

"Why?" Mikey asked suspiciously.

"Because I saw that same white light in my dream." She explained before bolting out the door to try and get some of her own answers about whatever Jack Carraway did to her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of cars filled Alkaline's ears as she regained conciousness. She looked around as her vision began to clear up and found the Fab Four all in a similar position as her. They were in some run down alleyway, but definitely in the city. 

"Uggghhhhh" Fun Ghoul groaned, peeling himself off the sidewalk. "Where are we?" 

"Battery City, I guess." Party Poison answered, brushing dirt off his black and red jacket. "More importantly, how did we get here?" 

"Carraway." Alkaline spoke up. "My guess is that whatever he used on us was probably that "PROJECT TWO-ZERO-ONE-NINE-X" or whatever it is and that is how we ended up here." She explained. 

"So, now what do we do?" Jet Star asked. "If this is Battery City, we can't just go and walk around unless we want to get caught." 

The rest of the Killjoys agreed with him. If they were in Battery City, they all would need to find some clothes and possibly some hair dye or wigs for Alkaline and Poison. Suddenly, they heard a voice cry out. 

"Cass, wait up!" The five of them turned around to find three figures running in their direction. One was a girl who looked a lot like Alkaline, except for that she was in black skinny jeans, a black leather jacket and a grey beanie and she had light brown hair like Alkaline's natural hair color. The other were definitely guys, one was an Exterminator with a big black X on his sleeve and a pair of black rimmed glasses like the ones Kobra had back when they busted Alkaline out. The other one was definitely a Killjoy, they could spot his bright red hair from a mile away and his face was obscured by a yellow mask very similar to Party's. The girl stopped at the entrance to the alleyway. 

"Are you Alkaline Army?" She asked.

"Who's asking?" Alkaline replied. 

"This may sound crazy, but I'm you. The not-killjoy you." The girl explained, stepping into the light. Alkaline stared at the girl in shock. It was definitely herself, down to every little detail and freckle. "Hi, my name is Cassadee Barnes."


	8. Now What?

All the five killjoys could do was stare in shock. "What?" The word fell out of Alkaline's mouth.

Cassadee nodded as the two other guys caught up to her. Now that they could see who the Exterminator was; it was Kobra Kid. His hair was its natural dark brown color and he still wore glasses close to falling off his face. The Killjoy pulled off his mask and his eyes grew wide; it was Party Poison. The only aspects separating them was that the other Party Poison had a blue jacket on while Alkaline's Party Poison had a black jacket, and one had a large purple bruise under his right eye. Everyone yanked out their ray guns at once. 

"Cass, what are you doing?" The Exterminator/Kobra Kid asked. 

"Alkaline, what the hell is going on?" Fun Ghoul asked. "Who is she?"

"She's me." Both Alkaline and Cassadee answered at the same time.

"Mikey, she's me if I was a killjoy." Cassadee explained. 

"Ghoul, that's me if I stayed in Battery City and never met you guys." Alkaline explained. 

"Ghoul?" The blue-jacket Party Poison spoke up, "As in Fun Ghoul?"

Fun Ghoul nodded in response. "Who are you? Some kind of clone?" 

Alkaline could tell this was about to get really ugly really fast and she could tell that Cassadee was thinking the same thing. "Hey Cassadee, should we take this upstairs before someone gets arrested?" She glared at the only person dressed in BL/Ind clothes. 

"Yea, that sounds like a good idea." She agreed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the apartment, everyone semi-circled around Cassadee and Mikey's small living room area with Alkaline Army and Cassadee standing at the front. "Okay, now that we're less likely to get arrested, let's figure out how the hell we got here." Alklaine explained. 

"You told us that it was the Carraway psycho." Fun Ghoul spoke up. 

"It was Carraway who pulled the trigger, but we need to figure out how we got to this particular timeline." She clarified. 

"I think I found something about that," Cassadee said, "Gerard, do you still have that file?"

The blue-jacket Party Poison handed Cassadee a cream colored folder laying on the table next to him. She snatched the file out of his hand and flipped it open. Alkaline looked at the file; it was the exact same as the one her Party Poison showed her back at the diner. "I may have a theory." Alkaline told Cassadee. 

"Well spill it Killjoy." Mikey said. Cassadee glared at him. 

"Jet, remember that drug Ripper uses in his interrogations?" Alkaline asked. Jet Star nodded in response. "I think that was how I got the drug. Cassadee got it through the pills, but I never took the pills when they commissioned this experiment. That's why they only took me back in Zone 4!" She realized. "They didn't need you or Pixel, they just needed to get me to administer the drug." 

"But why you two?" Kobra asked. "Out of all the people in Battery City and the Zones, why you two? It could have easily been me and him." He pointed at Mikey sitting beside him.

"Hey, we are nothing alike." Mikey retorted. "And neither are they." He pointed at the girls.

"Geez dude, what's got your pants in a twist?" Kobra muttered.

"Heard that!" Mikey glared at his killjoy counterpart. 

"Mikey!" Both the Cassadees snapped. "Shut up and listen." 

"Wait up a second." Jet Star broke the rising tension. "Where are Ghoul and my counterparts?" 

"Yea," Fun Ghoul agreed. "What about us? Party seems to be the only one who stayed the same." 

"In this reality, Ghoul's an Exterminator like Kobra." Alkaline explained, "Jet, you and me are both worker drones for BLI." 

The two killjoys' eyes widened. "Us? Working for them?" They said at the same time. 

"Kobra and I are too apparently." Alkaline replied.

"You're joking, right?" The black jacket Party asked. "I can't see any of us working for them." 

"Well believe it because it's true." Mikey snapped. Alkaline was really started to get fed up with him. This was nothing like the Mikey she's seen. He sounded annoyed with us, like it was our fault that this was going on. 

"Hey Mikey," She spoke up, "Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone." Cassadee looked at her counterpart suspiciously, her face read off as 'what are you doing?'. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk." She added. 

Mikey was suspicious, but now he may be able to get some real answers about all this. He reluctantly agreed to talk to her, led her into the bedroom, and closed the door behind him. "Okay, I have some questions for you, Alkaline Army." 

Alkaline smirked mischievously, "Then fire away."


End file.
